Breaking the waves

Brendan Kelaher remembers standing on a beach near Narooma on the NSW South Coast more than 30 years ago, watching his father haul in what he thought back then was the biggest fish he had ever seen.

Now, as the inaugural manager of the new Batemans Bay Marine Park, Kelaher hopes it is an image that many more generations will be able to remember.

He may be only 37, but Kelaher is bringing more experience to the job than someone decades older. As one of Australia's foremost marine scientists, he plans to use what he has learned in academia to ensure this part of the eastern coastline flourishes again.

Advertisement

"I grew up on this part of the coast," Kelaher says. "We lived in Canberra but my family had a beach cottage in Malua Bay, and it is here that I learned to fish, to surf and want to become a marine scientist."

Since receiving his first snorkel when he was about eight, Kelaher has been fascinated with what lies beneath the waves. And when he learned to scuba dive at 16 a new world opened up to him, he says.

"I had this realisation that this was a fantastic life and decided I wanted to become a marine biologist," he says.

After completing an honours degree in marine science at Sydney University, he started his PhD at 26, studying coralline turf - the pink-carpet-like structure that encompasses 90 per cent of Australia's rocky shores.

"It contains about 300-400 animals and has an amazing biodiversity," he says. "It is especially good for studying ecology as you can do rigorous experiments with it and then generate ecological theory."

He then became a senior lecturer and research scientist at University of Technology, Sydney.

Last year he won the NSW/ACT Young Tall Poppy Science Award for his research on the impact of nutrient pollution, desalination, invasive species and climate change on marine ecosystems, as well as his communication and promotion of science to school children.

Although he says he never thought he would leave academia, when the Batemans Bay Marine Park manager's job came up he saw it as his chance to help protect the coastal environment.

"Marine parks like Batemans Bay are the most important initiative in the past 100 years for conserving coastal biodiversity and the opportunity to be part of that is appealing," he says.

"If I don't do it now it may be too late because coastal populations are certainly going to increase, and more damage done."

The marine park had a controversial beginning, with opposition from the generations of fishers that have worked out of the port, many of whom have since sold up and moved away. But Kelaher has not been put off his mission by the sometimes volatile public reaction to the park.

He knows his experience as a scientist in the field of coastal development and change will be well utilised and is confident he can add a new perspective to managing such a precious resource.

"I will be assessing the impact of coastal development and coming up with science-based solutions to mitigate and manage them," he says.

"We want to prevent further degradation and promote sustainable use of our biodiversity. I want kids to still catch fish in 20 years' time like I did. I want to help establish guidelines that will give future generations that option."

The sea around Batemans Bay is home to the grey nurse shark, a seal population at Montague Island and the whales that migrate past Narooma each year.

But Kelaher says there are many other less noticeable sea animals that live in the area, which he wants the world to learn about.

He also plans on using his links in the research field to bring international marine researchers to the South Coast.

"We will be working closely with the Jervis Bay Marine Park as well, and a team from Jervis Bay is actually coming down here to do some monitoring work," he says.

"This is not just a marine area. The whole place is surrounded by beautiful bushland, and we want to link the marine and terrestrial resources to make this one of the country's major tourist destinations."

AGE: 37

CAREER PATH: Senior lecturer and researcher in marine science, University of Technology. Research on ecosystems of mangrove swamps and the effect of interpretative walks; exploring the relationship between the physical complexity of a habitat and the diversity of the species found in that area.

GREEN VISION: I want to give people a scientific perspective on conservation of the marine environment. What we know is that biodiversity will increase in sanctuary zones.

The first thing most people think is that to save the world we have to save the trees. But it is interesting that we are now finding that with increasing complexity in any ecosystem there are also impediments to interaction and diversity actually goes down.